Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-14
EAGLES In INDIANA.
THE KING or THE AIR DESCRIBED
BY AN UNFRlENDLY SCIENTIST.
The Most Cruel of All Feathered Rob.
Dcrs-His Covardly Attacks On Ino6en.
sIve Animals-The Dead Tree-An
Eagles Council.


slve Animals-The Dead Tree-Au
Eagles Council.
"a great many persons" said Professor
Collect, 'twho are considered well informed,
seem to think there are no eagles in Indiana.
The truth is we have quite a number, agreat
many more than we need. It was that SEN
sible old utilitarian, Benjamin Franklin, who
suggested the turkey as Dur national bird,
Directing to the proud eagle as ~unrepubGcan.
because he had been appropriated as the en-
blem of sovereignty by a number of mon.
archical powers. The poet and the seer
have given their finest farcies and inspira-
| tions to honor this bird, which, after all, is
the most cruel of all feathered ROBBERS.
Sometimes he is no daintier than tho buzz
card, and will gorge himself with the vilest
carrion. As to his cruelty, he takes special
delight in attacking some Of the most harm
less and innocent animals. He will pick out
the eyes of lambs, apparently more as a tor
ture than for food. I have never heard of .
case in Indiana where man, woman or child
was attacked by al eagle. In my own
neighborhood, in Vermilion county, I have
known an eagle to tear out the eyes of a
dozen lambs, frightening the ewes and keep
ing them at a distance by Tapping their
wings.
NOT cowARDLY, But WARY.
II never knew an eagle to attack an ami
NAL that was capable of resistance. Not
that I mean to say he is ~cowardly, but he is
wary. The eagle, as commonly known, is a
solitary. melancholy bird. He is usually
seen alone in his flights, soaring at a great
height, because his eye is capable Of measur-
ing great distances. Their nests are built OF
coarse sticks or brush, not well put together,
on the top of an inaccessible rock or some
tall monarch of the forest. It is commonly
believed that the occupation of such a tree
for the nest Of an eagle causes its death;
hence, in story and in pictures the eagle nest
tree is always shown as a dead tree. 1t is not
true that the eagles occupancy kills the tree,
but he chooses a dead or leafess tree for the
purposes of observation. Besides, the eggs
in the nest may have enemies-not merely
animals, but birds, like jays and crows.
II have little doubt that persons occasion
ally see eagles and mistake them for other
birds, the eagle being so rare. Perhaps,
however, many of our Oldest inhabitants
have not seen more thai one or two in a life
time. It seems that the eagle, like the wild
red man, requires a large hunting ground.
BY a sort of arrangement a territory of five
or ten miles square is assigned to a pair OF
eagles, though they do not sail in company.
They always keep the same territory and the
same nesting place.
"We have in Indiana the bald and the
golden eagles, the former the more common,
the latter extremely rare. Frequently the
females and young males of silvered or bald
90 loo a,,ov oicfo1 lon f0r thu cro1Io, o,I o%La-
species. All males of the bald family are
ornamented with a white crest after attain.
ing the age of 2 years. Before that age they |
;annot readily be distinguished from the
females in their more somber plumage. For
many years I had seen but few eagles, so l |
was surprised to learn that on an adjoining
farm to my own in Vermilion county, In. |
diana, within two miles of my residence, |
there was a bald eagle assembly-that it was
held there every night, and was the center |
to which eagles came from a distance of |
more than fifty miles in all directions, for a |
flight of fifty miles or more is nothing to
this mighty winged bird.
MEETING FOR COUNSEL.
"They came in the dusk of the evening, |
and doubtless met for counsel and direction
more than mere companionship. As the |
birds came in one after another there would |
be shrieks of welcome and noises very start.
ling to the listener. This national congress. |
as l call it, has existed for a period that the
mind of man runneth not to the contrary.
roosts are On lofty, bare limbed syca-
mores in a very solitary place. By actual
count these eagles numbered ffty-three. Of
which twenty-four were males and the re-
mainder either females or males that had
not reached the age of wearing the white
crest.
"Why don't eagles increase in number:
Well, everybody who gets a chance to kill
an eagle does SO. Another reason is that
their nests are so badly built as not to fur
nish security to eggs in case of storm, and
they are thrown Town and the eggs broken.
| noticed in a paper that an eagle had re-
Gently been killed-in Greene county,. I
think it was-that measured eleven feet four
inches from tip to tip. I had a wounded
eagle for a pet for some time. He had q
broken wing and could not fly. He would
1old a live chicken with one set of claws and
ear it into shreds. He was turned loose in
! garden and fed regularly every day. Cats.
oosstlms, and coons kept at a respectable
distance from the wounded king of the air.
it was unlucky for any strange dog to
get within his majesty's clutch. He never
'ould escape without leaving a slight testi-
nonial in the way of hair or hide behind
Tim. The brilliancy of the eye of the eagle
when angry is wonderful. It is dazzling
nd magnificent in its ury."-Indianapolis